Saturday, October 08, 2005

lb.2, Elsternwick

At first I thought we'd walked into Pram-World by mistake... "Here we have the Peg Perego Venezia, ideal for city driving... or, for some off-road action, strap bubby into the Phil & Ted Adventure Buggy 3 Wheel Jogger..." But after the initial confusion wore off, I was relieved to discover that this was indeed lb.2 (as in "pound 2"), 1-3 Carre Street, Elsternwick, Tel +61 3 9528 6440. Feeding time.

Restaurants really should take care with their use of puff & fluff. Those gratuitous adjectives that pepper the modern menu might sound cool when you dream them up, but they have a critical impact on dining expectations. This morning, for example, I was tossing up between poached and scrambled. So when I read "fluffy scrambled eggs" on the menu, I'm thinking... "mmm... fluffy scrambles... that sounds good". Problem was, the scrambles were anything but fluffy, which made for double the disappointment when the scrambled egg pancake actually arrived. It's all about expectations. If you're gonna lure people in with "fluffy" eggs, you better make sure the scrambles are floating of the plate.

Having said all that, my serve of Lb Eggs #2 was otherwise quite good. The scrambled eggs were OK (albeit not fluffy), and the flavours of the avocado mash, smoked salmon and toasted bagel combined very well. Lb Eggs #1, was more disappointment, with an under-toasted bagel covered with melted cheese, tomato and a slice of processed ham, all topped with poached eggs.

On a positive note, most of the sweet/healthy stuff looked very impressive. Fresh, chunky fruit salad with toasted almonds. Smooth porridge with a choice of fruit compote or fresh strawberries and banana (a nice contrast). Berry bomba or Bircher muesli with organic yoghurt. They also did an interesting, chunky version of baked beans.

The venue is modern, well designed, concrete-timber-and-glass cafe, with a mix of high bars, low bars, banquettes & tables. It also has parking for about half a dozen prams. And coffee, service and value are all good.